


Fly Me To The Moon

by the_technicolor_whiscash



Series: The 1930's Detective Chronicles [2]
Category: The Mentalist
Genre: 1930's Detective AU, F/M, Fire, Im Keepin It Goin, Lets Do This Shit, Maybe more than a touch, Sadness, a touch of angst, thats right, woot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-07 01:19:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8777422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_technicolor_whiscash/pseuds/the_technicolor_whiscash
Summary: It's been a year since Private Detective Teresa Lisbon was almost blown up by Craig O'Laughlin. Her life is flipped upside-down when someone burns down her office, causing her to reassess her life choices. And Jane, who she hasn't seen in weeks, is helping her along.





	1. The Fire

**Author's Note:**

> WOOOOOOOOOOOOO HERE WE GO  
> honestly I love this au so much  
> The sort of film noir style  
> The drama  
> The emotion  
> God it's just perfect

Private Detective Teresa Lisbon’s heels clicked against the ground as she walked to her office from her home. It was the one-year anniversary of Craig O’Laughlin blowing himself up and exposing his connection to Red John. One year that they had spent searching endlessly for Red John. And one year of work, to no avail. Sure, she was glad he hadn't killed anyone else, but she could tell Jane was starting to get depressed at the fact that they still hadn't found the son of a bitch.  
Oh yeah. Jane. They had gone out to dinner a few times, but nothing too serious. Jane buried himself in his work, sometimes not talking to anyone for days. Eventually they both agreed that they would be best off just being friends and colleagues. And sure, she still wanted to kiss his beautiful face, but that was no longer important. He was so focused on finding Red John that he just didn’t have the time for a relationship. At least that's what she told herself. Did she still love him? Yeah, she supposed she did. But was that going to interrupt her work? No.  
After a whole year of not being able to find Red John, Cho decided that it would be best to turn the Sacramento Police Department’s focus onto more pressing matters and leave the Red John case to Jane and Lisbon. So Lisbon went back to her work at her detective agency, and Jane went back to doing whatever he did on a daily basis. But she knew he was still trying to find Red John. She knew he would never yield until Red John was caught… or killed. She hadn't actually seen him in a few weeks. Hopefully he was doing alright.  
Wayne Rigsby had recovered fully from his kidnapping and gone back to work at SacPD. He ended up marrying Grace Van Pelt a few months after the whole debacle, and they're very happy together. Grace, however, wasn't content with just being a happy housewife. So Lisbon hired her as her secretary, and to help on cases from time to time. She was an excellent addition to the team.  
Today, however, felt odd. Yes, it was the one year anniversary of the Red John issue, but something else was off that she just couldn't quite put her finger on. There was a certain scent in the air which just seemed out of the ordinary. It wasn't the normal questionable scents of the city streets, no, this was a different questionable scent, one far more questionable than the others. It sort of smelled like gasoline…  
“Lisbon!” Yelled a familiar voice, as Consulting Detective Patrick Jane came running down the street. He stopped in front of her, catching his breath, before saying, “Your office is on fire.”  
Lisbon frowned. “What?”  
Jane pointed in the direction of her office. “It’s on fire. Someone doused the building in gasoline and lit it on fire.”  
Weeks since she's seen him, then he just shows up when her office is apparently lit on fire? Great. But she couldn't focus on her bitterness towards him right now. She had to go check out her office. She could see clouds of smoke billowing up in the direction of her office.  
She ran (or walked as fast as she could in her dress) towards her office, the view being blocked by fire engines and a throng of curious people. Pushing through the crowd, she eventually made her way to the fireman who looked like he was in charge.  
“What's going on?” She yelled, the sounds from the crowd almost deafening.  
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to back up a bit, just so you don't risk getting hurt by the fire.” He said, waving her away like she was some imbecile. She would not stand for that.  
“Hey!” She said, louder this time. “This is my building, and I want to know what happened here!”  
The man looked at her and frowned. “You're Detective T. Lisbon? I had always thought you were a guy! I thought the T stood for Thomas or something!”  
Lisbon had to restrain herself from punching the fireman. “Yes, I am Detective Teresa Lisbon. Now please, tell me why my building is ON FIRE!”  
The man stepped back and held his hands up in a defensive posture. “Alright, alright, geez, don't get your panties in a bunch. We just received a call from someone who said that they saw this building on fire, and when we got here it was all up in flames!” When he saw Lisbon’s scowl he took another step back. “I swear, I don't know anything!”  
Lisbon didn't soften her scowl, but she nodded and turned towards her building, the flames slowly dissipating. Shit. This building was a physical representation of everything she had worked for, all of the crap she had faced for wanting to be a female detective, all of her hopes and dreams. All of those things, gone before she even knew it. She would've cried if she didn't have a reputation to keep up. Heck, she’ll probably cry later.  
Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Jane. She was somewhat glad he was here, even if she was a bit angry that she hadn't seen him for weeks. Then it hit her. She might have to work with him again to find out who burned her building. Part of her was a little ticked about that, but another part of her wanted to work with him again. If nothing else, he got the job done… plus, he was quite the looker.  
“Hi, Jane.” She said after a moment.  
Jane gave her a look of sympathy. “I’m sorry, Lisbon.”  
Did he mean about the building, or about disappearing for weeks? With him it could've easily been both, or neither. You just couldn't quite tell.  
Instead of asking him what he meant, Lisbon just nodded and continued staring at the burning ruins of her livelihood. Jane didn't move his hand from her shoulder, but she was ok with that. It was oddly comforting, and she needed something like that right now.  
“Wait a second.” She said, a twinge of fear within her. “Where’s Van Pelt?”  
“Oh, don't worry.” Jane said reassuringly. “I sent her home. She was pretty shaken up.”  
Lisbon sighed in relief. “Well, that's good.”  
She watched as the last bits of fire were put out. The scent of burning still seared the air, and a number of firemen exited the ruins of her beloved building, most of the crowd applauding their work. But Lisbon found herself unable to applaud. She was just frozen, staring at the remains of her work. She felt her eyes begin to tear up, but she quickly wiped the tears away so no one saw. No one, that is, except Jane.  
“Teresa, are you ok?” Damnit. His kind concern was just too much, and before she knew what was happening, she found herself crying into his shoulder, his arms protectively around her. But she just couldn't hold it in anymore. The place that meant everything to her just gone. Her life up in flames. It was too much.


	2. Three Days Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lisbon begins to get back on her feet after her office was burned, and Jane makes her heart race once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took me so long to get this out, I hit a real bad bout of writers block over vacation and I've only just now been getting back in the groove.

Three days. Three days since her life went up in flames. She had begun searching for a new building to put her office in, but to no avail. Plus, she had lost most of her equipment and case files. Business was already hard to come by, and now it'd be even harder.   
Jane and Van Pelt had been helping her as much as they could. They assisted in salvaging whatever they could find from the burned-out wreckage of her building, and Jane was helping her in the search for a new office.   
Three days after the fire, Lisbon found herself once again staring at the ruins of her building. There was actually quite a few people there, all curious as to what had happened. Heck, Lisbon was curious too. Who had doused her building in gasoline and burned it? It was clearly deliberate. She doubted it was Red John. It just wasn't his M. O. No, this was probably someone else, perhaps someone who had a personal vendetta against Lisbon. And that wasn't exactly comforting.   
Lisbon felt a light tap on her shoulder. It was Jane again. Great. The man who, much to her dismay, still made her heart race, even in these dire times.   
“Lisbon, are you alright?” He asked, genuine concern in his face.  
She sighed. “Yeah, Jane, I’m fine. Just shaken up, that's all.”  
He looked her right in the eyes, and she felt her heart leap within her chest. “Lisbon, you’re not fine. I can tell this has hurt you more than you're letting on.”  
“Yeah, well…” she paused, gathering her wits. “My entire livelihood up in flames, of course I'm going to be upset.”   
Jane nodded. “Well, if you ever need anything, I’m here for you.”  
Lisbon gave him a pained smile. “Thank you.”   
For a moment they stood in silence, just looking at the burned out building. Lisbon found herself subconsciously taking Jane’s hand, and just holding it for reassurance. He looked for a moment that he was going to question it, but apparently decided against it.   
“You know,” Jane said after some time, “You could come work with me. I’ve got an office. It's not big, but it's something.”  
“Really?” Lisbon was blown away by his offer. Frankly, she didn't even know that he had an office, given that he didn't even own a phone.   
“Yeah, I mean, you could always work for Sacramento PD too, I just figured I'd ask.” Was the infallible Patrick Jane looking awkward? Gee, it really taken him a lot of effort to muster up the confidence to ask her. What did that mean?   
“No, yeah, I'd love to work with you. I mean, I'll still have to have my separate detective agency, but we can collaborate on cases and such.” It was then that she realized she was still holding his hand. As much as she'd like to keep holding it, she pulled her hand back. He looked a little hurt when she pulled her hand away, but she couldn't allow herself to get attached again.   
Jane gave her a smile. “Great! We can bring your stuff over later.”

Within the day, Lisbon, Jane, and Van Pelt moved all of Lisbon’s stuff to Jane’s office. There wasn't a lot of room, but she figured it would make do until she got a new office. She spent a few hours organizing her files, sorting through what was salvageable and what was burned beyond recognition. She felt a twinge of disappointment with the sheer number of charred, unsalvageable junk.   
She set up her desk in Jane’s office with some little knick-knacks that were luckily untouched by the flames. It wasn't much, but it was a nice reminder that not all was lost. Her favorite was a small photo of her and her brothers. Sure, she hadn't seen them in a while, but it provided some nice memories. And memories were pretty much all she had anymore. Memories of her business. Memories of her family. Memories of her happiness with Jane.   
It was a few minutes before she realized that she had been crying.   
“Lisbon? Are you alright?” Jane said, suddenly walking into the office.   
She quickly wiped away her tears. “Yeah, I’m fine, Jane. We should get started with the case.”

“Alright, what've we got?” Lisbon said as she walked towards a table covered in scattered case files. They had compiled a list of everyone that she had ever gotten arrested, and anyone she had ever pissed off. Given her line of work, and the fact that she was one of the only female detectives in the business provided a seemingly endless list of enemies.   
Van Pelt held up a folder with slightly charred edges. “You found out that this guy murdered his wife and he tried to shoot you. Sent him to jail for life. He might be bitter about that.”  
Jane shook his head. “No, he'd be the type to come after you with a gun. Arson wouldn't be his MO.” He held up a few different files. “These people, they're the types to burn things down. Past arsonists and the like.”  
Lisbon nodded. “Alright, which one of them do you think is the most likely culprit?”  
“This one. Tommy Volker.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOOOH TOMMY VOLKER HERE WE GO

**Author's Note:**

> Y'All are gonna wanna buckle your seatbelts and pull down the shoulder bars because this sure is going to be a wild ride  
> A roller coaster of feelings, emotions, and watching my writing gradually improve as the story evolves  
> But I'm serious this is like one of my favorite aus ever  
> I'd like to dedicate this work to the snapchat filter which inspired the au, alongside dedicating it to Wikipedia, which I use all the damn time for research on these fics. I never knew the history of ethanol before writing this fic. Or the history of the Fire engine. Or a full list of songs covered by Frank Sinatra.


End file.
